


Do It For Them

by aperfectpearl (dimensionhoppingrose)



Series: Her Son, My Son [3]
Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Light Whump, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 14:50:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16935303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/aperfectpearl
Summary: A simple mission goes awry. Steven reflects in the aftermath while waiting for Pearl to come back.





	Do It For Them

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in an hour under the influence of sleeping drugs. Good luck to us all.

“She _always_ does this, I don’t understand her, I swear...”

Amethyst is muttering as she clears out the fridge, shooting glares back at Steven every now and again. Well, not Steven exactly, but the little basket sitting on the coffee table, with an oval-shaped gem in it.

“ _Jeez, these things just keep getting older and older.”_

“ _That is indeed how time works, Amethyst, yes.”_

_Amethyst rolled her eyes before focusing back on the drop ship they were approaching. Garnet had said something about a self-destruct sequence accidentally being triggered by some wandering critter in the control room – none of it really made any sense. They just did what Garnet said._

“ _How many_ are _there, anyways?” Steven asked curiously._

“ _Hundreds, probably,” Garnet said. “Not every ship managed to escape Earth’s atmosphere before the corruption.”_

“ _Tells you how much the Diamonds care about anyone beneath them,” Pearl muttered._

“Quit staring at her,” Amethyst grumbled, walking by Steven with a pile of stuff. “It’s weird. And it’s not going to make her come back any faster.”

“She used to watch me sleep,” Steven said off-handedly.

“Yeah, and I told her that was weird, too.”

Steven sighed, slumping back on the couch and resting his head on the cushion. He knew Pearl liked to take her time but it had been _three weeks_. What was taking her so long? At least there was no hologram to mess anything up this time.

“ _We used to take these down and raid them,” Pearl remembered, almost fondly. She and Garnet had slowly begun telling Amethyst and Steven about the war, mostly egged on by Bismuth, who loved recounting everything the Crystal Gems had done back in the day. “I told Rose it would be beneficial to let me study them and get an idea of how they worked. She said I just wanted to tinker with some toys.”_

“ _She was right,” Garnet said dryly._

“ _So? That’s no reason to take her side.”_

 _They found the control room, where the self-destruct timer was already counting down. “Three minutes,” Pearl said. “That’s plenty of time_.”

The room lit up for a moment as the warp pad activated, and Garnet appeared out of the fading light. “Hey,” Amethyst said over her shoulder as she disappeared into her room.

“Did you find any more?” Steven asked, looking up from Pearl’s gem.

“Yeah, but it was pretty dead even before I destroyed it.” Garnet walked closer, folding her arms. “She’s still not back?”

“ _No_.” Steven sighed. “What’s taking her so long _this_ time?”

“She’ll reform when she’s ready.”

Steven really hated that answer.

“ _You’re surprisingly calm about a bomb that’s about to go off with us literally in the middle of it.”_

“ _It’s old Homeworld technology,” Pearl said lightly, pulling a panel off the console and starting fidget with the wires._

“ _I thought you said Mom wouldn’t let you have a ship?” Steven asked curiously._

“ _She wouldn’t let me_ keep _one. That doesn’t mean I didn’t stay behind sometimes with Garnet or Bismuth to look it over.”_

“ _What a rebel,” Amethyst deadpanned. Pearl ignored her, working diligently. It took about thirty seconds for the beeping countdown to stop._

“ _Ah!” Pearl said happily, straightening up and smiling at them. “See, nice and simple--”_

_A sudden alarm rang out, and they all whirled to look at another console, where a colorful orb was a raising up, symbols Steven didn’t understand flashing on its surface. Pearl and Garnet knew what they meant, though._

“ _Oh dear.”_

Steven carried the basket upstairs, putting it on his bedside table and changing into his pajamas before flopping into bed. Moonlight shone through the window, illuminating Pearl’s gem.

 _Why did she do it?_ It was the thought that had plagued him for days now. Amethyst was right – she _always_ did this. Why?

“ _Um, okay, that’s fine!” Pearl was clearly panicking even as she ran to the console. “Some of these have a trick back up system, but it’s fixable. I’ll slow this down, you three go find the circuit breakers to kill the power to the ship, that should take care of all of this.”_

“ _Do all three of us really have to go?” Steven asked, biting his lip. He didn’t want to leave Pearl alone._

“ _I don’t remember exactly where the breaker is, and the more ground you can cover, the better. I’ll be fine. Go.”_

_The three hesitated before nodding, trusting Pearl._

_That trust was almost immediately betrayed when she slammed a button to close the door the minute they were out of the console room._

“ _PEARL!” Amethyst kicked the door as hard as she could. “What the hell?!”_

“ _I might have lied,” Pearl called back, sounding suddenly calm again. “The back up runs on a power separate from the main ship, shutting it down would take about ten minutes longer than we have, but I can slow it down enough for all of you to get out.”_

“ _Pearl, open this door, now!” Garnet ordered, summoning her gauntlets and punching it hard._

“ _That might be a little difficult, since I put a spear through the controls. You have thirty seconds.”_

_Amethyst growled, drawing her whip and repeatedly assaulting the door. But it was no good. “Twenty seconds,” Pearl called, only the slightest strain on her voice._

“ _You’re gonna get blown up with the rest of the ship!” Steven yelled. “What good is that?”_

“ _The three of you will survive. Fifteen seconds.”_

_Garnet slammed her gauntlets into the door again, growling. “Sugallite could--”_

“ _There’s no time,” Garnet cut Amethyst off bitterly. “Steven, bubble.”_

“ _What? But what about--”_

“ _Just do it.”_

_There were tears in Steven’s eyes as he formed his bubble around the three of them, watching the battered door in horror._

_Everything went white_.

Why? It had been haunting Steven every single minute of the last three weeks. Why would she trick them into leaving the room, and leave herself in dangerous? She could have died. She almost _did_ die! How could she possibly think that was okay?

He didn’t understand her.

_Steven wasn’t sure if he lost consciousness or not. He definitely slammed his head against the bubble as the explosion sent it flying, but it held them all, even as they tumbled through the air, spinning dizzily, before hitting the ground. The bubble had one last gift to give, cushioning their fall before it popped._

“ _Stop the ride, I wanna get off,” Steven groaned, falling back onto the forest floor._

“ _This is definitely not a shorty squad approved attraction,” Amethyst agreed, grimacing. Garnet said nothing; her gaze was locked on the rising column of smoke._

“ _Come on.”_

_She didn’t wait for the other two before springing ahead. Amethyst grabbed Steven, quickly heading after Garnet._

_The ship was in pieces, burning debris scattered everywhere. “Pearl!” Steven shouted as they landed and Amethyst set him down. The smaller gem looked at Garnet, the question obvious in her eyes._

_**Could Pearl have even survived this?** _

_Garnet didn’t know._

_Steven was using partial bubbles to shove debris aside without hurting himself, ignoring the flames nipping at his pants. She had to be here. Even if she had poofed, she was here_ somewhere _. She had to be. She…_

_A low groan caught Steven’s attention, and he whipped around. “Over here!”_

_Garnet and Amethyst joined him immediately, shoving aside a particularly large slab of metal. And there was Pearl. Bruised and broken, clothes ripped, a crack in her gem, barely twitching, but alive. God, she was alive. Steven ran to kneel down with her, doing the first obvious thing – licking his hand to heal her gem. She tensed and tried to pull away from his touch, but relaxed when the crack began to heal itself._

“ _Nngh… what…?”_

“ _It’s okay,” Garnet assured her. “You can rest. Everything is fine.”_

_Pearl’s eyes had barely fluttered opened, and she was already closing them with a relieved sigh before her body dispersed into a sparkle of dust._

Could they have made it out if Pearl hadn’t slowed the bomb? Probably not. Worst case scenario, they bubbled and grumbled about bruises for a day or two. Instead, Pearl had blown herself up, nearly _died_ , and for what?

Steven was just falling asleep when a white glow lit up his eyelids, and he immediately sat up, beaming. Pearl’s gem was rising up into the air, taking shape again. She was coming back.

Her outfit had altered just slightly. No more bow around her waist – apparently she was sick of everyone calling her _fancy_. Her pants were a light pink now, her shirt a dusty blue with the star right in the middle.

“Oh, well, this is nice,” she hummed, looking herself over. “Not quite what I was going for but--”

The rest of that sentence was cut off by Steven flinging himself at her, hugging her tight around the waist. “Hey.” She laughed, patting his head. “Miss me?”

“Of course I missed you!” Steven pulled away, trying to glare at her. “How could you do that to us? You almost died!”

Pearl’s smile fell, replaced by a completely baffled look. “I was trying to give you all time to escape. I figured if nothing else, containing the blast largely to the console room along with your bubble would help you all get out--”

“And what about _you_? What if your gem had broken? What if we hadn’t been able to find you? _Why are you so sure it’s okay to just sacrifice yourself like no one else cares_?!”

Pearl’s mouth opened and closed silently for a few minutes, her eyes locked on Steven. Finally, she sighed, kneeling down so they were eye to eye. “I didn’t do it because I think no one cares, Steven. I did it because I _know_ they do. And I care about them. You, and Amethyst, and Garnet… you’re my family. I’d do anything to protect you. And don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same.”

She had him there. Pearl clasped his cheeks, kissing his forehead. “I’m sorry I scared you. I truly am. I swear I was working on an escape plan, but the countdown went faster than I thought. I’m sorry.”

Steven sighed. “Next time, don’t make a decision without us. Families stick together. That’s the number one rule.”

“Right.” Pearl smiled, pulling him into a tight hug. “And Steven?”

“Mmm?”

“It’ll take a lot more than a self-destructing ship to kill me. Don’t worry about it.”

That got her a laugh.


End file.
